Opinions

Alaskans have nothing against oil; it's the spill and spin we can't stand

It's not often that I read letters to the editor about my columns, but this week was just too good. The president of a oil industry support group -- read cheerleader and chief for the rah rah petro club - called my column from a few weeks ago "nonsensical gibberish."

Sorry, that just made me laugh again. If my writing is so nonsensical then why do they have to send out a hired gun to say so. I mean, really dear reader, you'd know gibberish if you read it. Right?

Just so we're clear. I am as anti oil drilling as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers are against cars. Notice there isn't an organization fighting safety features in cars. Maybe Ms. Petro Rah Rah isn't aware of the failure of safety mechanisms or their testing.

The reason I opposed President Obama's decision to open drilling in the Arctic isn't because I hate oil. In fact, at the time I argued in your good morning paper that he'd made a colossal mistake in missing the opportunity to open ANWR. I'm not against oil development - I'm against oil spills.

When the Exxon Valdez ran aground the technology for clean up was almost exactly what it is now. Booms, pressure washers and dispersant. Current law forbids dispersants to be used in Alaskan waters but there are tens of thousands of gallons of it stored on the North Slope. You know, we aren't going to use it but we shipped it all the way up here and are storing it in case we have a spill somewhere where it is legal to use it. You buying that?

The commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Paul Zukunft said, "Right now, there's no pre-approval to use dispersants."

Really? Is that why it's there? Corexit is nasty. It hurts people who work around it. Maybe Alaska needs to go further than "you can't use Corexit here" and say "you can't store it here either". Seems like they are planning for a spill. No kidding. I thought they said they wouldn't have one.

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The head of NOAA said dispersant usage in the Arctic "still needs a lot of research." Ya think? Shouldn't we do that research before development?

The way oil spill response technology is rated is baffling at best. Trust me. If car safety equipment was tested the same way you'd ride a bike - on specific no car trails.

Here's how it goes. If you design a mechanism to clean up oil it goes to testing. The people who run the testing work for oil companies. If you say your contraption can clean up a hundred gallons a minute they print that on the machine. If you say you have a unicorn that poops money that doesn't make it any more true than the stamps on inventions.

There is an old torpedo testing sight on a military base in New Jersey. Tests are done there in all sorts of conditions. MAR Inc runs the testing facility. Mar Inc is owned by Exxon. So in effect, Exxon runs the tests and results.

Moving oil skimmers have a rating that is established by the manufacturer.

There is no actual certification testing for an advancing skimmer. There are guidelines and suggestions. There are American Standards Testing and Measurements tests for static skimmers.

If you look at the standards for static clean up there has to be 175 millimeter (2.95 inches thick) of oil in a pool. Think about that. Almost three inches of oil... I would have been happy to see only 3 inches of oil on the top of the water 26 years ago. You could clean it up with 5 gallon buckets quicker.

The regulations have fallen down. If you manufactured response equipment before the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, you now fall under the 20 percent rule. That means whatever your stated capacity was the Coast Guard automatically approved 20% of your claim. Back to the money pooping unicorn. If you said your unicorn pooped $1000 an hour they would certify you automatically for $200 an hour. No test. Only the people who manufactured before that time still get to use that rule. Now they don't have to test because they get an automatic rating and thus we have the same ineffective equipment today as we did during the Exxon Valdez disaster.

The market is fixed to make sure the good old boy network shuts out newer technology.

Think about your phone - how that technology has changed in 26 years. What about your car, heck some can drive themselves now. Airbags, rearview cameras, bluetooth, and seat heaters! It's a whole new world. Unless we're talking about how to clean up a spill. We might as well go back to phones with curly wires hooked to a wall.

So, to the fancy lady president at the We Love Oil Club: I know what an oil spill smells like. I know what it's like to see my friends who were responders get sick and die. I saw towns go into sadness and fight to recover from a company who said they "would make us whole". I also know the industry standards are built on clouds and then touted out as "the best in the world."

Shannyn Moore is a radio broadcaster.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com

Shannyn Moore

Shannyn Moore is a radio broadcaster. You can hear her show, "The Last Word," Monday through Friday 4-6 p.m. on KOAN 95.5 FM and 1080 AM and 1480 We Act Radio in Washington, D.C., and on Netroots Radio.The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.

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